The Shock House 2009 (plus Zombie musings)

Scary fun for everyone. The Shock House is in Regina this year (it was in Melville the last 3 years). It was 8000 square feet of zombie fueled good times.

To go along with this theme, I will also share some zombie-related tidbits I've been saving up.



You know, I recently read "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" (which is funny and also inspired me to finish reading Pride and Prejudice so I could compare and contrast).










As a taste, here is the first line comparison:

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession
of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

vs.

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains."

And so it goes. Anyway I enjoyed it for sure.

It also reminded me of how I promised LP I'd do a post on the Zombie Survival Guide (which he gave me for Christmas last year). Thanks to this book I size up houses I see for potential survivability in a zombie attack. I'm ruined forever now (but I love it). For example, when picking a house to hole up in during a zombie outbreak, remember to find one with a second floor that cannot be accessed from the ground, then you destroy the stairs and voila! Safe zone (but be sure to fill up the upstairs bathtub with water and stash as many tools and provisions upstairs as you can get your mitts on beforehand). For practice, here's a link to a fun flash zombie survival game.

Lastly, here is a link to Jonathan Coulton's song "Re: Your Brains". He did a project where he wrote a song every week for a year. This song is my favorite (careful it gets in your head...much like a zombie... hahaha! Weee.), but he has many other awesome ones. It was featured in How to Succeed in Evil "Cheap Labor" Part 2 (there is also part 1 and 3). How to Suceed in Evil is a podcast/comic book about Edwin Windsor, evil efficiency consultant.

Chickens! Concert Series: LP edition (#1)

LP had the good fortune to enjoy the Virgin Festival in Calgary as an early birthday present from his buddies this year. Unfortunately he is worse than his little sister at giving me blog post fodder so I'll wing it. I know he got to see such bands as Pearl Jam, Billy Talent, Mother Mother, and Metric. I believe they were all good. Umm... and they may or may not have played some old or new songs. Also, LP went into the mosh pit, which made the security guys sad because he is big and hard to drag down from up there. Stay tuned for updates if they become available (hint hint).

p.s. Pearl Jam has a new song that I like. Have a look as they performed "The Fixer" at Calgary Virgin Fest 2009 on August 8th.

Wake Up and Smile

Nostalgic hilarity courtesy of LP. The Order of the Hand will rule!

p.s. This sketch first aired in 1995 and appears on the SNL DVD "Best of Will Ferrell, Vol.2"

Chickens! Cultural Moment: Evil Dead The Musical

Weee! So much belated birthday fun thanks to my awesome bro LP (all it took was a whirlwind weekend drive to Calgary. FYI Drumheller had the cheapest gas by far). The story of Evil Dead: The Musical was actually a combo of the 3 Evil Dead movies with some poetic license. For example, many of the characters from "Evil Dead II" are missing and "Army of Darkness" was relegated to a few quotes (like the "boom stick" monologue) and a statement at the end. Also, Ash's hand gets bitten by the demon moose head instead of evil Linda and that's why it turns evil. Anyway, especially amusing in the play were all the inside jokes making reference to Bruce Campbell, Sam Raimi, or horror movie standard plot devices. The show is put on by Ground Zero Theatre and Hit & Myth Productions at the Playhouse at Vertigo Theatre Centre in Calgary (which I had never been to before) and it is the first Canadian EDtM show outside of Toronto.

The fist half of the show basically covers the first movie (Evil Dead) in which our main characters Ash (sole survivor who, as such, loses all loved ones and his own hand to evil forces and is covered in blood repeatedly), Scotty (Ash's friend, man slut, coward), Linda (Ash's love interest and fellow S-Mart employee come evil demon), Shelly (ho that Scotty picked up in a bar), and Cheryl (Ash's sister, accosted by trees while following mother's advice to always investigate scary nigh-time forest noises alone with out waking the others) head to a cabin in the woods for some romance and relaxation (1 - Cabin in the Woods, Housewares Employee). They find a recording in the basement which turns out to be translations of the "Necronomicon" by the ill-fated Professor Knowby. [Side note: This was actually called the "Naturon Demonto" in the first movie and renamed "Necronomicon Ex-Mortis" in the sequels. Both are translated to mean "book of the Dead".] They then inadvertently bring on their own personal zombie laden gore-fest by playing the recording and all of the main characters proceed to by horribly killed except for Ash (2 - Look Who's Evil Now, What the F^%# Was That?, Join Us). Now the first movie ends around here with Ash destroying the book but with a cliffhanger of a demon coming out of the forest to get him.

Fun facts about Evil Dead:
The film was shot over a period of 1.5 years with an operating budget of $375,000 (even though it went on to be one of the highest grossing horror movies of all time). Not surprising then that the inconsistencies within the film are both rampant and glaring (imdb has a big list of them), but I think that adds to the humour. It was non-union so a lot of the actors used stage names to avoid penalties from the screen actors guild. Bruce Campbell was basically the only actor who stuck with the project to the end and was available for re-shoots so Sam Raimi resorted to using "Fake Shemps" for replacements. Although it featured a lot of slapstick, the movie was before its time in gore level (and also featured an infamous "tree rape" scene that garnered it wide disapproval), which got it banned in several countries including the UK (and an X rating before that). Although Quebec rated it 13+, go figure.

In the second half of the play we got mostly Evil Dead II plot stuff but they basically culled the characters down to Annie and Ed (archaeologists) and Jake (reliable). Features a lot of people running out of the cabin and coming back dead and Ash gets his chainsaw hand (3 - I'm Not A Killer, Bit Part Demon, All the Men in My Life Get Killed by Candarian Demons). Annie explains how to summon/kill all the demons then gets demonized herself (4 - Ode to an Accidental Stabbing, Do the Necronomicon, It's Time). Finally Ash kills everyone and all the demons spray blood on the people in the "splatter zone" and we find Ash back a S-Mart telling of his adventures (5 - Blew That B@#%* Away). The review "play enjoyed by all" speaks for itself.











Fun Facts about Evil Dead 2:
Goofs continue to be rampantly hilarious. Did you know that you can see the clawed Freddy Krueger glove at various points during the movie? They did that because the Nancy character in Wes Craven's "A Nightmare on Elm Street" can be seen watching Evil Dead while trying to stay awake near the end of the movie. Which was in reference to the torn 1977 "The Hills Have Eyes" (also by Wes Craven) poster visible in the cellar in Evil Dead. Oh movie types and their inside references.

History of the Necronomicon:
Made up by horror writer H.P.Lovecraft and included in several of his short stories. Lovecraft also wrote a fictional "History of the Necronomicon" story. Pop culture references include "Evil Dead" (duh!) and the Simpsons (of course) in which Bob Dole reads a snippet at the Republican party meeting in the first 2 minutes of Season13Episode7 (Brawl in the Family). Also the crux of a low budget movie called Necronomicon (1993).

1307

I love the spoof advertisements of posters for the Broadway mainstays Les Miserables, Hairspray, and Mama Mia! that were done up for the Toronto incarnation of the musical (click to embiggen):










Original "Evil Dead" (1981) Movie Trailer

Original "Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn" (1987) Movie Trailer

Original "Army of Darkness" (1992) Movie Trailer

p.s. I don't know how many of you watched the cartoon Reboot but they did an homage to Evil Dead 2 and the Evil Dead series of games (and there's also a Michael Jackson reference in there - RIP). The various games actually added significantly to the storyline. And speaking of games did you know that Bruce Campbell does the voice over instructions for the Spider Man movie games? Funny times.
p.p.s. FYI a movie version of the musical is in negotiations. Also, an Evil Dead 4 movie is in the works with Sam Raimi in the process of writing the script.

Simpsons references for Moms#7: made up words edition

Embiggen: (verb.) 1. To make physically bigger, larger or increase in size.
2. specifically, with regards to computers, to maximize a window or image (e.g. click to embiggen)
3. metaphorically, to enrich, empower or to make more admirable or great.

Cromulant (also, cromulent):
(adj.) 1. specifically, as a direct reference, to assign validity to or question the validity of any word (e.g. is that word cromulant?)
2. generally, and assuming knowledge of the inherent reference for the purpose of amusement, to refer to anything that is legitimate, helpful, useful, or applicable to a situation. (e.g. Thank you for your cromulant assistance).
3. ironically or sarcastically (depending on intent), used to mean legitimate, but is in reality, spurious and not at all legitimate.
4. used to describe a dubious or made up word, term, or phrase that sounds plausible because it makes logical sense within existing language conventions (e.g. meese as the plural of moose). Usage of the word cromulant in this sense is ironic as the word itself is incromulant (and arguing the cromulance of the word incromulant is doubly ironic).

(Ant.) Incromulant: (adj.) used to describe a dubious or made up word, term, or phrase that does not makes logical sense within existing language conventions, but may make sense in a cultural context (e.g. "Meh" - 1. an interjection meaning mediocre, lackluster, unexceptional, or uninspiring or 2. used to express feelings of general malaise, indifference, or blandness).
Note: The word "incromulent", while it modifies the word cromulant in a cromulant way, it is not a cromulant word as the word base itself is not cromulant. Although, arguably, making a cromulant word out of an incromulant one may encromulate the new word to some extent.

Reference to: Season 7 Episode 16 ("Lisa the Iconoclast")

Jebidiah Springfield [on film]: "A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man."
Ms.Krabapple: Embiggens? I never heard that word before I moved to Springfield.
Ms.Hoover: I don't know why. It's a perfectly cromulent word.

p.s. Note that there was in fact a memorial service for Adlai Stevenson in Springfield, Ill. right after he died, but he is not actually buried there. Although it is a temporally appropriate homage considering all of the JFK references in the episode (including the parody of the infamous JFK "wanted for treason" poster).

Chickens! Concert Series #0.5: The posts that never were

Ahh the pre-blog concerts, what I can remember anyway (please feel free to help my faulty memory out anybody). In roughly chronological order:

pre 1999:
various Lionel Hampton Jazz Fests - Diana Krall/Brian Bromberg/Lionel Hampton/etc.

1999-2005:
Gob/Matthew Good/Moist - Dec. 4 at the Max Bell Centre. My first rock concert. I brought LP. He was sick. He's such a little trooper :)
Default/Nickelback - Fine! I admit it! I saw Nickelback! There! Are you all happy now! Bah! I don't care what you all say, I like Default.
54-40 - at the Stampede, it was raining. Shocked at how many songs I knew but hadn't realized were by them.
Finger Eleven - 1st time at the Stampede 2nd time here.
Sparta-Like 2 days before I left Calgary to go to S'toon.







post 2005:
Stabilo-at Louis', I was a little tipsy...
Theory of a Deadman - at the Ex with D. Fun times! Went on rides (but then I got a little sick and I had to sit down...But then I rode them again!) and showed D how to play skeeball.
The Tragically Hip-heard in the park with K (didn't shell out to actually get into the Bess courtyard to see them though).
various past Sask Jazz Fests - I've previously mentioned seeing Buddy Guy during the Sask Jazz Fest but also spotted there: Hurricane Cletus, Big Dave McLean, DJ Champion, Joshua Redman, Ndidi Onukwulu - these are just the ones I can remember, and they weren't all at the same Jazz Fest.

p.s. Gob circa 1999. "I Hear You Calling" from the album "The World According to Gob".

But I'm le tired!

The end of ze world. For LP :)

p.s. Ahhhh Motherland!

Squirrel miscellany

That squirrel is a genius!


I saw the video and it put me in mind of this comic. Hilarious! It was so funny LP's vball team even used it as their logo. There is a different (more recent) version of Danger Squirrel here, but I like this one better. I'm pretty sure it's the same guy though, the comics at lonely fetus are pretty weird and usually quite dark but there are a few pretty funny gems in there.

Also, just to nerd it up a bit, here is some of the diagnostic features of the Sciurid skull. I believe the example used is the eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis). The image is from the immensely useful Animal Diversity Website.